From the Trenches World Report

Liberty Blitzkrieg – by Mike

Pressed by the Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee at an oversight hearing, Gen. Keith B. Alexander admitted that the number of terrorist plots foiled by the NSA’s huge database of every phone call made in or to America was only one or perhaps two — far smaller than the 54 originally claimed by the administration.   Continue reading “NSA Chief Admits “Only One or Perhaps Two” Terror Plots Stopped by Spy Program”

Pinoy Tech

Yesterday, Kaspersky Lab announced the release of their Internet Security 2014 and Anti-Virus 2014 security solutions for home use. These two flagship products offer a host of new features and upgrades to augment their previous version.

What’s new with the 2014 version are the Trusted Applications Mode, Anti-Blocker, and ZETA Shield features. These versions also improved on the Safe Money for protection while doing online banking and Parental Control features. KIS 2014 and KAV 2014 are also now optimized for Windows 8 with fast GUI response and lower resource consumption.   Continue reading “Kaspersky Lab launches 2014 security products for consumers”

Coyote Blog

The US Forest Service, under pressure apparently from the White House, has reversed both its historical precedent as well as its position yesterday and will close over 1000 public parks and campgrounds that are operated by private companies without using one dime of public money.  Why does the fact that our landlord the US Forest Service is going on an unpaid vacation mean that tenants of theirs have to close up shop too?  We have no idea.   Continue reading “Its Official: US Forest Service Closing over 1000 Privately-Funded Parks”

Huffington Post – by Ed White

DETROIT — DETROIT (AP) — A Detroit-area cancer doctor accused of intentionally misdiagnosing patients and ordering unnecessary treatments will remain in jail until trial, a judge said Wednesday after prosecutors insisted he might flee to the Middle East.

Dr. Farid Fata, in custody since Aug. 6, wanted the judge to lower his $9 million bond to $500,000 and give him a chance to win release. But the decision was worse for the Oakland County man: No bond.   Continue reading “Dr. Farid Fata, Cancer Doctor, Accused Of Intentionally Misdiagnosing Patients”

Survival Blog – by Ken in Montana

With the current shortage of ammunition and the consequent high prices, it makes more sense now than ever before to learn how to reload your own fired brass casings.  I even suspect that in the future, this may well be the only way for the ordinary citizen to obtain ammunition. It’s not at all difficult, it only requires a little understanding of the process, and the ability to follow directions. This will become very important later, as each caliber requires its own set of powders, charges, primers, and bullets. No one can learn them all, there are millions of potential combinations. But the data has already been compiled for you in hundreds of tables in loading manuals(more on these later…) and on the Internet.  Continue reading “Loading Your Own Ammunition”

The Oregonian – by Stuart Tomlinson

The Aug. 29 shooting of a 34-year-old Portland man during a Biggs Junction traffic stop was justified, Sherman County district attorney Wade McLeod said Tuesday and he will not convene a grand jury to review the case.

John Van Allen II was shot and killed by Oregon State Police trooper Matt Zistel, 26, just before 1 p.m. after he was pulled over in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 84 just east of Biggs Junction. Continue reading “Shooting of John Van Allen by OSP trooper justified, DA rules, no grand jury review”

Washington Post – by Brian McNoldy

Aircraft reconnaissance has found that the disturbance in the southern Gulf of Mexico has intensified to a tropical storm: Karen.  Tropical storm and hurricane watches are now in effect for a section of northern Gulf coast.

Cities under the hurricane watch include Biloxi,  Mobile, Panama City, and Pensacola.  New Orleans is in the tropical storm watch area.  Tropical storm conditions could begin in all of these areas as soon as late Friday.   Continue reading “Tropical storm Karen forms, hurricane watches issued for Gulf coast”

Gold Broker – by Fabrice Drouin Ristori

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s decision to go ahead with unabated quantitative easing (QE) seems to have taken many by surprise. To such an extent that, from now on, the major market participants are saying they have totally lost faith in Ben Bernanke. True, Ben Bernanke has been saying constantly, for the last four years, he would first taper and then end his QE plans, and then, at each FOMC meeting, he has been saying the opposite. The Fed has printed over $3Trillion since 2007.   Continue reading “Bernanke’s « Syrian Moment »”

Daily Caller – by Neil Munro

California’s Obamacare network failed to register even one person for insurance on when the exchanges opened on Tuesday, according to a local TV station.

Covered California initially claimed 5 million visitors on the first day, but that turned out to be a web-page count of clicks by 500,000 visitors.

“There was about half a million people that visited the website,” said Lizelda Lopez, a spokeswoman for Covered California.   Continue reading “California’s Obamacare fails to enroll a single customer”

The DC Caller – by Alex Pappas

Say hello to Obamacare phones.

In Tennessee, those shopping on the new health insurance co-ops could end up with more than just some health insurance. They might even walk away with a free smartphone.

The Nashville Business Journal is reporting that Community Health Alliance, Tennessee’s Obamacare health insurance co-op, is using the prospect of a free phone to encourage folks to enroll:   Continue reading “Obamacare phones offered to health insurance buyers”

Dan Morgan 76

This article presents an example of how message encryption is done using a one-time pad(OTP).

In cryptography, the OTP is a very simple, yet completely unbreakable, symmetric cipher. The OTP is essentially a pad of papers on which each page has a unique set of random letters. The sender and receiver are given two pads. One half of one set for encipher and one half of another set for decipher goes to each person. Each letter on the pad is used to determine a single letter of the enciphered message. Since the letters on the pad are random, there is no formula that can be determined by studying the letters. Assuming that the pad is not compromised, and each page is used only once, the OTP system is unbreakable. That is why the one time pad is considered to be the holy grail of cryptography.   Continue reading “Encryption via a One-Time Pad”

Wood Trekker – by Ross Gilmore

Ah, living off the land. Thriving in the wilderness with the use of your skills. It is the ultimate goal of many bushcrafters and survivalists. Numerous posts have been written on forums about this subject, and as soon as one ends, another is started. Of course, actual evidence is rarely presented. We often fall back on positions such as “our ancestors did it, so clearly I can do it”, or “I was out last week and saw a bunch of cattails and barriers, so my food sources are secure”.   Continue reading “Living Off The Land: Delusions and Misconceptions About Hunting and Gathering”

Paul Craig Roberts

The inability of the media and politicians to focus on the real issues never ceases to amaze.

The real crisis is not the “debt ceiling crisis.” The government shutdown is merely a result of the Republicans using the debt limit ceiling to attempt to block the implementation of Obamacare. If the shutdown persists and becomes a problem, Obama has enough power under the various “war on terror” rulings to declare a national emergency and raise the debt ceiling by executive order. An executive branch that has the power to inter citizens indefinitely and to murder them without due process of law, can certainly set aside a ceiling on debt that jeopardizes the government.   Continue reading “The Real Crisis Is Not The Government Shutdown”